Biography

Persona : Sudhir S. Raval

Positive in thinking, Soft in talking, humble in behaviour, committed to work and dreaming big are key qualities of a veteran journalist & columnist of Gujarat, Shri Sudhir S. Raval, who firmly believes that ‘Journalism is an expression of patriotism. As a profession, it is acceptable only till it is not at the cost of public interest.’

A political analyst and recognized media professional for over two and half decades, he has been igniting the flames of courage and patriotism with his unbiased journalistic approach. He has made himself conspicuous among giant media houses by sticking to his ethics, independent views, humanitarian approach, wide horizon of vision and remaining committed to values.

Enterprising:

He has authored about 2000 articles and columns published in Gujarati as well as English media. His articles were published in Gujarati dailies like “Navnirman” “Akila”, “Nav Gujarat Times”, “Dhabkar”, “Gujarat Samachar” and magazines like “World Network”, “Business Profile”, “Feelings”, “Asia Reporter”. ‘Abhiyaan” and many more.

Sudhir S. Raval is the only journalist in India who had accurately predicted and wrote in march, 1998; “If congress comes in regime, then Smt. Sonia Gandhi will ask Dr.Manmohan Singh to step in as PM. This happened after six and half years, i.e post General election of 2004 in India.

His press coverage during LokSabha and RajyaSabha sessions in Indian parliament, New Delhi and State Assembly, Gujarat are well-known. He gave a new shape to his career and portrayed the actual conscience of media by writing effective columns, editorials and publishing interviews of eminent personalities in the political sector. He also interviewed Religious leaders, Social leaders, Senior Bureaucrats and many other prominent Personalities from varied sectors across the nation in electronic media.

His inclination and curiosity towards parliamentary affairs has made him meet many dignitaries and initiate one to one dialogue. It inspired him to meet many stalwarts in political circles including former Prime Ministers like Shri P. V. Narsimha Rao, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Dr. Manmohan Singh, Shri Chandrashekhar, Shri V. P. Singh, Shri Deve Gowda and Shri I. K. Gujaral. During his long journey of journalism, he has exchanged views on important topics with veterans like Smt. Sonia Gandhi, Shri L. K. Advani, Smt. Susma Swaraj, many others in central government and Ex. Chief Ministers of Indian states including Gujarat.

Apart from personalities, he has always been pro-active in real time field coverage. He preferred to cover the natural calamities and situations of crises without any delay. He was among the first one to reach and cover the real time situations of the devastating earthquake of Kutchh and Ahmedabad districts in 2001, which had shaken the entire Gujarat state and the country. Be it a condition of drought or floods, he had conveyed the real facts and status of the situation. His un-bias, neutral, courageous and studied anchoring and participation in TV debates are well regarded in urban as well as rural areas of Gujarat.

Research & References:

Investigative journalism, Election coverage, Surveys and Data analysis are his prime area of interest. In fact-finding research work, his views and opinions are considered as genuine reports. The encyclopaedia of its parliamentary history published by Gujarat Vidhan Sabha titled ‘Swarnim Gujarat SansadiyaSmrutika-2010’ is a prestigious feather in his cap. His findings from the Report of the Sachar Committee appointed by the Government of India, about the status of Muslim community-especially in Gujarat was well debated across the nation. He has surveyed topics like Lok Adalat, Social issues and natural calamities like water scarcity, earth-quake and flood. He has also toured different states across the nation for election surveys. His 100% accurate survey for Gujarat Lok Sabha general election in 2014 was widely appreciated. He has presented and published his findings to various media. His mission of ethical journalism reflects in his activities towards humanity, people’s welfare and public awareness, which he believes his duty in nation building.

Dedication:

‘AARPAR’ :His venture “Aarpar”, a Gujarati weekly magazine was vehemently accepted by people in very short time because of his clean image, ethical journalism and pro-people approach.

‘GUJARAT’ : ‘Gujarat’, a Govt. of Gujarat publication and fortnightly magazine had an unaccredited circulation of mere 15000 copies for 30 years, but the scenario became entirely different within very short period after Sudhir shouldered the responsibility as an Executive Editor of ‘Gujarat’ magazine, given to him by Shri Narendra Modi, the then Chief Minister of Gujarat. To the surprise of many, he became successful even in government functioning, for cultivating leadership attitude and team spirit within the circle, which resulted in amazing public participation to the extent that magazine received more than one lac subscriptions in a single day in Surat. The then C.M. of Gujarat publicly praised him with pride because a government magazine ‘Gujarat’ had become No. 1 magazine having highest circulation among any in Gujarat.

Hence, the utmost responsibility which was given by the then Chief Minister with full confidence in his ability was justified by him by his tireless dedicated work, ability to express the truth, patriotism, courage and positive journalism. It helped the magazine achieve an exuberant number of 2,30,000 circulations across cities, towns, and villages of Gujarat and also lay strong foundation which exists till date. Today it is most circulated magazine in Gujarat having circulation of more than 3 lakhs. This has never happened in the history of Gujarati media.

A movement of Positive Journalism:

Sudhir started a silent movement called “Positive Journalism” against negative section of mainstream media, when he was contributing his services to the Government of Gujarat. As an Executive Editor, he started to give purely positive news and information to readers. Readers welcomed his work. People gradually started to go away with sensationalized reporting and believed positive information. He observed that a mainstream media is less concerned about public needs and more worried about ratings and selling entertainment, Sudhir focused on public welfare only. He was honoured as “PRIDE OF GUJARAT” in MEDIA category by renowned magazine FEELINGS in the year 2008.

He toured many districts and participated press seminars and conveyed his views about the role of media in development. He also gave training to government officials and conveyed firmly that people prefer authentic information rather than any sensational news. His journalism with positive approach brought great results.

Books and Souvenirs :

Sudhir with his specially trained team of professionals, attempts to publish surveys, news reports, books, souvenirs and other publications in print media. To name a few noteworthy books; ‘Love Gujarat’, ‘The Warrior’ in English, ‘JanYoddha’ in hindi and ‘Swarnim Gujarat ni Swarnim Safar’ in Gujarati can be credited to his name as an author. He is associated with ‘Noble media’ and ‘NAC Communication Network llp.’, which are active in journalistic activities, publishing of books, production of TV serials and documentaries on various subjects and disseminates to people of cities as well as villages too. He is also associated as Consulting Editor of Sambhaav Media group, which is engaged in publishing newspapers, Journals and periodicals in Print Media and VTV News tv Channel in Electronic Media.

‘Goshthi’ in E TV :

The word ‘Goshthi’ in Gujarati means Conversation, but when it comes to meaningful dialogue with stalwarts, celebrities, Religious leaders along with common people with unique quality, the essence of dialogue becomes more valuable. One such example is ‘Goshthi’ a TV talk show initiated by him, which was telecast on Multilingual Channel E-TV Gujarati in the year 2011-12. He produced, directed and anchored TV talk show Goshthi, in which he interviewed prominent personalities of different sectors of the society.

The motto of Goshthi was to spread knowledge & emotional and inspiring success stories along with cultural entertainment. It proved successful in disseminating authentic information through the TV talk show.Between the anchor and guest, ‘Goshthi’ proved to be a unique exchange of thought with thought, feeling with feeling and word with word, which made it uncommon in Gujarati TV Media.

VTV – Noble Media Survey :

Sudhir is passionate of meeting people directly, doing genuine election survey and facts finding activities. His 100% accurate survey for Gujarat Lok Sabha general election in 2014 telecasted in VTV, which was widely appreciated. He has presented and published his findings to various media.

‘OFF THE RECORD with SUDHIR RAVAL’ in V TV :

Unofficial, informal, in confidence, not intended to be known publicly, not meant to be recorded. These are some of the most common meanings of the term ‘Off-the-Record’ and it is widely respected by journalists, as a serious breach of code of ethics to divulge the identity of their source or to betray the trust of that source, by using the information inappropriately. In short, what transpires between the source and the journalist, is supposed to be ‘in camera’…

But for Sudhir, the definition is On-the-Record. Because, he had the privilege of having a têtê-à-têtê with more than seventy personalities, which were ‘on camera’ and were aired on VTV. These personalities are from diverse fields like, politics, bureaucracy, industry, literature, technology, community service, healthcare, economics, films, media, religion, education and so on. This certainly is a first of it’s kind milestone amongst Gujarati electronic media !

Noble Trust – Where nobility is an identity:

He is the Chairperson and Member Secretary of Noble Trust that has motto of spreading nobility across the Gujarat state and the nation. He plans to promote Noble Trust as an umbrella under which he has pious intention to give services to the poor section of the society and rehabilitate the destitute, illiterate, and disables. The trust also has plans to motivate youth and women in particular, to awake and spread national spirit among Indians.

Ekta n Angels –Where there is a will, there is a way…

Ekta, an angel and late younger daughter of Neeti and Sudhir was differently abled as human body. She was more than a normal human being; she was actually an angel who revived the life of numerous angels across India. She founded ‘Ekta n Angels’, an organization for the service to poor and differently abled and became her founder president. Today, an angel has gone back to heaven after giving 20 precious years and lessons of living the life. She passed away on 5thMarch, 2011. To fulfill her dream, Neeti, as Chairman of ‘Ekta n Angels’ and Sudhir are carrying the mission and vision of daughter Ekta ahead.

Noble library – Pathway from Passion to Peace..

Books are wonderful gifts to mankind. They are useful in many ways. The kingdom of books is as vast as universe. Noble library is one of his invaluable assets to his treasure. In his library, there are nearly 8000 books on various subjects like Literature, Science, History, Art, Culture, Civilization, Architecture, Health, Sociology, Philosophy, Spirituality, Religion, Politics, Motivation and many more. Among all these, Some books are for serious reading, some are intended to enrich the knowledge and learning. He says, ‘books help to widen our interest. They broaden our outlook. They enrich our thoughts. They help us in understanding different aspects of life. They give us inspiration to do great things in life. They encourage us to fight the odds of life bravely. They fill our minds with noble thoughts. They awaken our souls. They mould our characters. Sudhir is voracious reader and he gets lot of energy, inspiration and knowledge from all these books time to time.

Eloquent & apt:

He is quite active and eloquent in participating and delivering speeches in seminars, group discussions, conferences on various subjects related to nation building. He participates in meetings, debates, and extempore which talks about journalism, justice, philanthropic activities, social ideology, and ethics. Over and above, he aptly puts his effort to transform code of conduct of four pillars of democracy which he depicts this action as a drop in an ocean. He has innate capacity of finding a correct path himself and translates the same into his media activities.

He is unique in his thought process and talks about philanthropic views to develop Indian society with impeccable and seamless vision. According to him journalism should be used mainly for service to mankind not only as a money making industry. He believes in time and manages his time meticulously. Moreover, being an organized person he believes in value of time and effectiveness of real-time delivery, and hence he plans, categorizes, and classifies his work based on the priority.

Bonding with family:

He is a persona with an ultimate combination on philanthropic ideology from his mother late Smt. Sharadaben and honesty and truth from his father late Shri Shantilal Mohanlal Raval. He was born on 26th May 1959, in Morbi of Rajkot district of Gujarat and married to Neeti, daughter of Smt. Jashumatiben and Shri Pravinchandra Pathak on 15th July, 1986. His daughter Abhi is married to Daksh N. Trivedi and his late daughter Ekta may not be with him physically, but her SOUL has always remains an inspiration to Sudhir’s work towards mankind. His cute son Manav proves to be ‘like father like son’ an active, observant and loving as a student. Sudhir is a science graduate, who also got an opportunity to work with nationalized bank named Vijaya Bank and also tried business in early carrier but he left the job and business too due to his love towards the country, which derived him to be a reformist finally. Music and playing chess are his hobbies for enjoying quality time.

Goal:

His positive thinking and optimistic approach with simplicity has rewarded him with fame and dignity. The mantra, ‘Work is Worship’ reflects in the works of his real life, be it personal or professional. His ambition is to contribute invaluable services to the nation by devoting himself in to social services like media and other social activities and achieve supreme spiritual destiny as an ultimate goal.